Emtb motor ground clearance

[Gruitr1]

Hello all,

Does anyone know which full power Emtb has the most motor clearance from bottom of motor to the ground? Not BB height..! Looking to purchase Emtb for wife and we ride allot of tech trails and logovers. I'd like to find the bike with most ground clearance so she has less chance of bashing motor..

Thanks!!

 

[steve_sordy]

Ground contact with the motor base must happen because I have seen posts on here about people fitting protective plates to their bikes. From memory they mostly either bought one or made one from plastic or metal. It is not a problem that I have suffered with, but on my current bike (Merida eOne-Sixty) and the one before (Focus Jam2), the chain ring was lower than the motor.

 

[Stihldog]

the chain ring was lower than the motor.

That would worry me.
Peddle strikes happen to me on almost every ride. I’m not sure what the motor clearance is but I have 165mm cranks. My skid plate takes a beating also but it does absorb most impacts to the motor. The motor casing is only magnesium (I think) but there are some cooling fin’s exposed which can break off.

My chainring looks to have the same clearance as the skid plate.

I’ve also softened the broken cooling fins.

 

[Spangoolies]

Went through all the trouble of making my own motor bash guard for my Mondraker and have not hit a thing so far. Not sure to be relieved or pissed at the time I spent on it. I do ride some reasonably techy trails filled with fallen trees

 

[Stihldog]

Hello all,

Does anyone know which full power Emtb has the most motor clearance from bottom of motor to the ground? Not BB height..! Looking to purchase Emtb for wife and we ride allot of tech trails and logovers. I'd like to find the bike with most ground clearance so she has less chance of bashing motor..

Thanks!!

Not sure of the ground clearance.
The wheel base on my Rail medium is 48”. The wheel base on my Powerfly medium is 45 1/2”. The skid plate on my Powerfly is plastic and barely has a scratch. I’ve replace the skid plate on my Rail twice.

Wheel base, crank length, bike geometry, tire diameter, terrain etc, seems to affect ground clearance.

 

[Mikerb]

Any emtb you can bunny hop

 

[Gruitr1]

Any emtb you can bunny hop

Thanks for responses!! Good info...

Of course ALL bikes can be bunny hopped and we do as needed!! Has nothing to do with what I'm asking...
The tech trails we ride are sometimes constant boulder/rock gardens with numerous consecutive log overs...

 

[Zimmerframe]

Probably the Pole Voima.

 

[irie]

We have motor bash guards (from protect-emtb) on our Rails. As far as I'm concerned they do protect the motor. Their position means that they strike objects first and because they're angled (like the motor cover) at about 45 degrees they deflect the bike upwards. IYSWIM.

 

[Mikerb]

..........you dont ride a log obstacle etc by ramming the motor guard into it. If you cannot lift the bike clear of it then dont ride it. The various bash guards are good to prevent scrapes on what would otherwise be a plastic cover but there is nothing to prevent the shock of a hit being transmitted to the motor casing and motor mounting bolts.

 

[irie]

..........you dont ride a log obstacle etc by ramming the motor guard into it. If you cannot lift the bike clear of it then dont ride it. The various bash guards are good to prevent scrapes on what would otherwise be a plastic cover but there is nothing to prevent the shock of a hit being transmitted to the motor casing and motor mounting bolts.

Accidentally, but not on purpose of course. Would have thought that goes without saying but evidently not. My bad.

 

[mike425]

The new orange Phase probably has the best solution. It has a proper stainless steel plate under and they have rotated the motor up.

I very rarely catch mine now, on my old Vitus the motor used to regularly take a right beating.

 

[SwampNut]

My bike came with a significant bash plate, and I've certainly used it. I ride in rocky terrain. The actual measured clearance on my Intense Tazer MX Pro is 10.5" and the wife's Fantic 1.5 is about 11.7. Both chainrings are just a tiny bit higher. I wonder if manufacturers state this number?

Another factor is angles; WHERE the lowest point is located relative to the tires will matter. The Fantic has its lowest point closer to the tire than the Intense, therefore it will effectively have more usable real-life clearance.

 

[John Beedham]

The height of the motor base can be maximised, regardless of make/model buy using a 29" setup with the longest travel fork that would suit the riding you do......

 

[Binhill1]

Hello all,

Does anyone know which full power Emtb has the most motor clearance from bottom of motor to the ground? Not BB height..! Looking to purchase Emtb for wife and we ride allot of tech trails and logovers. I'd like to find the bike with most ground clearance so she has less chance of bashing motor..

Thanks !!

I got an aluminium cover as they had one in shop on levo. Uses the battery bolt to secure it. The plastic covers are expensive to replace if you ttwat them in a rock garden . Even a big stone thrown up by tyre at speed can do damage. Not so bad at pedal strikes now after 3 years on Ebike

 

[steve_sordy]

Went through all the trouble of making my own motor bash guard for my Mondraker and have not hit a thing so far. Not sure to be relieved or pissed at the time I spent on it. I do ride some reasonably techy trails filled with fallen trees

Consider it to be your talisman!

 

[SwampNut]

My dirt motorcycle and MTB have plastic guards. I greatly prefer it, and despite many bashes, have not needed replacement. Zero chance that a stone would cause damage.

 

[Binhill1]

My dirt motorcycle and MTB have plastic guards. I greatly prefer it, and despite many bashes, have not needed replacement. Zero chance that a stone would cause damage.

A stone knocked off my battery connector no damage though. Had a few nasty ones on the shins ouch.

 

[SwampNut]

We’re talking about a stone damaging a motor guard.

 

[Binhill1]

We’re talking about a stone damaging a motor guard.

Yes burst mine in two cost a fortune to replace it . I thought I had said that sorry .

 

[SwampNut]

Holy crap, that’s a shitty guard. Around here I’m constantly bashing mine on huge rocks. Which is why I prefer plastic, aluminum can deform and stay that way.